The present invention relates to an apparatus for handling photographic disk films, and in particular an apparatus for automatically extracting a photographic disk film from its cartridge and inserting it into a light-proof magazine for transferring to the subsequent film processing operations.
Disk films having frames arranged in an annular array are well known. These films are held in light-proof cartridges which are inserted in a camera, and after exposure of the film the cartridges are removed from the camera and sent on for subsequent developing and printing operations to a film laboratory.
The centralized film developing and printing network creates a substantial work load for the photofinishing laboratory, and an ever-increasing need is felt for automating the film developing and printing procedures and reducing the time required to carry them out.
Among the operations carried out by the photofinishing laboratory are the extraction of the disk film from its cartridge and the placement of the extracted film in a magazine which, on becoming filled with disk film, is dispatched for subsequent processing.
An apparatus has already been proposed to automatically extract rolled films from the magazine in which they are wound; however, this apparatus is obviously not suitable for use to perform the same kind of operation on disk films, and this is due to their different shape and to the different problems this shape entails.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for use by a photofinishing laboratory which automatically extracts disk films from their cartridges and inserts them in magazines which are then sent on to film developing and printing locations. The apparatus according to the invention functions rapidly and reliably in a light-proof environment. The apparatus for handling photographic disk films according to the invention comprises within a light-proof casing:
a passage way for the insertion of the cartridge containing the sensitized film to be extracted;
a light-proof magazine positioned inside said casing and provided with an internal spit into which films extracted from their respective cartridges are loaded one after the other;
a mobile blade substantially in a tangent relationship with the cartridge previously set up for opening;
a mobile spindle between a position facing said entry slot to receive the cartridge and a position facing said magazine to insert the film on its spit, said spindle being provided with a motor and a number of motions to hold the film during the opening of the cartridge, to eventually rotate it so as to bring it to the same angular position before inserting it on the spit and to carry carry out this insertion;
means for closing the magazine after it has been filled with a predetermined number of films.
According to the invention, a spindle or film cartridge transport unit may comprise a plate having a recess matching the shape of the disk film cartridge, the plate being provided with a hole coaxial with a central hole of the film cartridge and film, and means to retain the cartridge within the matching recess of the plate.
Advantageously, the spindle comprises a mobile shaft provided at its end toward the plate with means engaging a central hole of the film, and likewise comprising a coaxial sleeve mounted on the shaft, the sleeve having axial and rotational movements independently of the shaft.
According to the invention the spindle may comprise a threaded shaft axially acting on a slide to which the shaft coaxial with the sleeve is applied, said threaded shaft being mechanically coupled to said sleeve for its rotation.
According to the invention, a toothed wheel, linked to a toothed bush coaxial with the sleeve and provided with at least one sphere elastically engaging in longitudinal grooves in the external surface of this sleeve, may be fixed to the threaded shaft through a free wheeling device.
Advantageously the front end of the sleeve may have a small tooth engaging itself in a corresponding opening in the film.
According to the invention the shaft coaxial to the sleeve may be provided, near its front end, with an elastically radially directed retractable key, engaging itself in a corresponding notch in the film, said key being aligned with a corresponding rib in the spit when the spindle faces the magazine.